The ones I know who've shot'em talk about .40 cal and up.
My good bud shot a nice 41'' this year in Zim. He was shooting 400 TSX's out of his .416 Rigby, Ruger RSM, recovering a near picture perfect expanded bullet. One shot, buff ran. They followed him (probably too soon), he got up but no one got a shot. They tracked him into thick brush, both .416's at the ready, only to find him dead. They were glad he was dead in those close quarters. Could have gotten interesting...
PH carried a .416 Rem, PF M-70, thought the RSM was a bit heavy, generally liked .416's for buff.
DF
Nice, I'd have to see to believe why MY 300 gr Partition 375 H&H handloads AND SHOT placement would not work on a cape buffalo, I full well believe I'd have a dead bull in a very short matter of time.
I've spoken with a couple SE guides who had bad results with clients who used lighter NPs in various magnum .30s with less than hoped for results. They consequently ruled that NPs aren't up to the task not realizing Nosler builds the larger partitions differently than the smaller ones. If I were forced to use a 300 RUM on a big bear I'd choose a TSX over a NP, but that will never happen because I'll keep on killing them with the .375 and 9.3 with those beautifully consistent partitions.
I've got an old pre-64 300 H&H with a Lyman receiver peep chunking 220 gr Partitions at a leisurely 2750 that I'd dearly love to shoot a big brown with, betting the cost of my hunt they'd work.
I've spoken with a couple SE guides who had bad results with clients who used lighter NPs in various magnum .30s with less than hoped for results. They consequently ruled that NPs aren't up to the task not realizing Nosler builds the larger partitions differently than the smaller ones. If I were forced to use a 300 RUM on a big bear I'd choose a TSX over a NP, but that will never happen because I'll keep on killing them with the .375 and 9.3 with those beautifully consistent partitions.
I've got an old pre-64 300 H&H with a Lyman receiver peep chunking 220 gr Partitions at a leisurely 2750 that I'd dearly love to shoot a big brown with, betting the cost of my hunt they'd work.
That's a nice one, but you got a lota nice "toys"...
The 300-grain .375 Partition has been one of the models designed to retain more weight for a while now. In the fall of 2003 Phil and Rocky stopped by our place in Montana for a quick visit. It was the first time we'd met, but knew each other through some correspondence.
Phil and I naturally started gacking about guns, and among other things I well remember showing him the two 300 .375's I'd managed to recover. (I've shot a bunch of game with them since, but those are still the only two recovered.) One retained 87% of its weight and the other 88%, and after handing them to him he said, "That's just perfect!"
A few years later I had a talk with John Nosler about the Partitions designed to retain more weight. He said they move the partition forward enough to guarantee a minimum retention of 75% of the original weight, even if the front core and jacket totally disintegrate. I have only found one that light, a 286 9.3 that whacked a big blue wildebeest in the shoulder joint as it stood quartering toward me at around 200 yards. The bull went about 25 yards and keeled over, and the bullet ended up under the hide at the rear of the ribcage.
That's also one of the only pair of 286 9.3's I've recovered, the other from a big bull moose in northern British Columbia, which retained a little over 90% of its weight. Have also recovered a pair of 400-grain .416's from Cape and water buffalo, which retained 83% and 95% of their weight.
As with most lead-core bullets, the lighter retained weights have occurred with bullets that hit heavy bone. The lighter .416 Partition, for instance, broke the right shoulder of a Cape buffalo--after penetrating from the rear of the left ribs, a distance of at least five feet.
“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.” John Steinbeck
I have also discovered that the 220 gr .308 caliber partitions in my 30-06 penetrate as deeply and reliably as the 300 gr .375 and have had great performance with them on 1200-1400 pound bears.
I have also discovered that the 220 gr .308 caliber partitions in my 30-06 penetrate as deeply and reliably as the 300 gr .375 and have had great performance with them on 1200-1400 pound bears.
I darned near chose the 220 gr Partitions for use with the 30-06 on my arctic grizzly hunt last year, but the 200's shot so well... And I was anticipating a shot out to say 300 yards or so where that wonderful accuracy might have been important. So, here I have a couple of boxes of 220 gr .30 cal Partitions on my loading bench. Ah well, it doesn't cost anything to keep them there.
The 300-grain .375 Partition has been one of the models designed to retain more weight for a while now. In the fall of 2003 Phil and Rocky stopped by our place in Montana for a quick visit. It was the first time we'd met, but knew each other through some correspondence.
Phil and I naturally started gacking about guns, and among other things I well remember showing him the two 300 .375's I'd managed to recover. (I've shot a bunch of game with them since, but those are still the only two recovered.) One retained 87% of its weight and the other 88%, and after handing them to him he said, "That's just perfect!"
A few years later I had a talk with John Nosler about the Partitions designed to retain more weight. He said they move the partition forward enough to guarantee a minimum retention of 75% of the original weight, even if the front core and jacket totally disinegrate. I have only found one that light, a 286 9.3 that whacked a big blue wildebeest in the shoulder joint as it stood quartering toward me at around 200 yards. The bull went about 25 yards and keeled over, and the bullet ended up under the hide at the rear of the ribcage.
That's also one of the only pair of 286 9.3's I've recovered, the other from a big bull moose in northern British Columbia, which retained a little over 90% of its weight. Have also recovered a pair of 400-grain .416's from Cape and water buffalo, which retained 83% and 95% of their weight.
As with most lead-core bullets, the lighter retained weights have occurred with bullets that hit heavy bone. The lighter .416 Partition, for instance, broke the right shoulder of a Cape buffalo--after penetrating from the rear of the left ribs, a distance of at least five feet.
One other comment: I've found many of the relatively few people who criticize Nosler Partitions do so not on how they kill or penetrate, but the amount of weight they lose. This fixation on retained weight probably began in 1977, when Bob Hagel's book GAME LOADS AND PRACTICAL BALLISTICS FOR THE AMERICAN HUNTER appeared. Hagel was the first hunting writer I recall who mentioned retained weight, and for some reason it became the standard measure for "premium" big game bullets.
Back then, however, the only reasonably available premium bullets in the U.S. were the Bitterroot Bonded Core, Nosler Partition and Speer Grand Slam. The early Grand Slams weren't very good (as I discovered myself in the fall of 1977 when one failed to penetrate on an angling shot into a cow elk), though they later improved considerably. The BBC retained the most weight of the three, but Hagel pointed out that it didn't penetrate as deeply as the Partition, because of the BBC's very wide mushroom.
However, many if not most hunters assume more weight retention means deeper penetration, and since "average" Partitions retain around 2/3 of their weight--rather than the 90-100% of some other bullets--many assume Partitions don't penetrate very deeply. This isn't necessarily true, as Bob Hagel noted about BBC's.
An example from my own collection of recovered bullets would be the Partition that retained the least amount of weight, a 150-grain .270 that my wife used to take a middling-size Shiras moose. The bull stood quartering away at about 125 yards, and Eileen put the bullet about midway between the left shoulder and the rear of the ribs. The bull took a step and a half a piled up dead, and we found the bullet under the hide in front of the right shoulder, retaining 54% of its weight. Now this moose wasn't anywhere near as big as an Alaskan moose, but was as large as any bull elk I've seen on the ground, and penetration was at least three feet. So no, retained weight isn't directly correlated to how well a bullet penetrates or kills.
But it's also a mistake to assume that because smaller Partitions average around 2/3 weight retention that ALL Partitions will retain the same amount of weight.
“Montana seems to me to be what a small boy would think Texas is like from hearing Texans.” John Steinbeck
I haven't shot the 300gr NP at a Cape Buffalo, but (out of a .375 Wby) it instantly killed the attached immediately and went through about 3 feet of bear and exited. The bear jumped when hit, spun around and tried to bite what it thought was biting him, and died 25 feet from where the initial claw marks and blood spatter were. I know that Cape Buffalo can be harder to kill, but I was pretty amazed by the performance.
Cant speak to the terminal performance but I could never get the 300 partition to shoot in 2 different 375's. The 260 partition was another story. I plan on using a 270 TSX where a 300 part would be required. The old hornady 300 RN always worked on AK bears for me but heard that bullet has been changed.
Stuck in airports, Terrorized Sent to meetings, Hypnotized Over-exposed, Commercialized Handle me with Care... -Traveling Wilbury's
Thanks gunner. I actually was aiming about 8 inches further to the right. But I didn't "lead" him, and he was walking fast enough that, even at only 100 yards, he would move that much in the 0.11 seconds it took for the bullet to go 100yds. Lesson learned.
I haven't shot the 300gr NP at a Cape Buffalo, but (out of a .375 Wby) it instantly killed the attached immediately and went through about 3 feet of bear and exited. The bear jumped when hit, spun around and tried to bite what it thought was biting him, and died 25 feet from where the initial claw marks and blood spatter were. I know that Cape Buffalo can be harder to kill, but I was pretty amazed by the performance.
Those who have hunted Cape buffalo--- swear by Swift A-frames. That's what I'll use in my 375 Ruger. I'm actually thinking of a Aussie Buffalo before a Cape. It might be an easier sell to my better half--Australia over Zimbabwe.
I used a 270 grain Hornady interlock this past June for my AK grizzly.
Those who have hunted Cape buffalo--- swear by Swift A-frames. That's what I'll use in my 375 Ruger. I'm actually thinking of a Aussie Buffalo before a Cape. It might be an easier sell to my better half--Australia over Zimbabwe.
I used a 270 grain Hornady interlock this past June for my AK grizzly.
Bob-not to hijack, but how did the 270 interlock do? My current rifle likes them, but Ive heard they are more frangible than expected. Did you get an exit?
Stuck in airports, Terrorized Sent to meetings, Hypnotized Over-exposed, Commercialized Handle me with Care... -Traveling Wilbury's
